Exam View: 31 March 2018 Current Affairs

Current Affair of 31 March 2018, Exam View.

Assam launches toll-free helpline number for women

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal launched a toll-free helpline number 181-Sakhi for women, amid a spurt in crimes against women in the state.

The 181-Sakhi toll-free women helpline is a scheme of universalisation of women helpline launched under the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India.

This service intends to provide 24-hour immediate and emergency response to women affected by violence

The service is presently being launched for one shift and will be open from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. However, it will be made available 24×7 shortly

Indus Treaty – Permanent Indus Commission meet begins in Delhi

According to the treaty provisions, the 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) will take place in India on March 29-30, 2018 in New Delhi to hold technical deliberations on various issues
The last PIC meeting was held in Islamabad in March 2017, a significant move at the time as it came after the “surgical strikes” by India across the Line of Control, and the government’s announcement that it would reconsider its position on the 1960 treaty with Pakistan after terrorist attacks in Uri.
The Indus water treaty covers the water distribution and sharing rights of six rivers—Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.

MP’s black chicken Kadaknath won GI tag

Madhya Pradesh has won the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Kadaknath, a black-feathered chicken known for its flavourful meat and found mainly in the tribal district of Jhabua.

The GI certification for the chicken was notified in GI Journal No 104 dated March 28

InSight- Nasa to send 1st mission to study ‘heart’ of Mars in May

Nasa is all set to send the first-ever mission dedicated to exploring the deep interior of Mars, scheduled to launch on 5 May.InSight: is like a scientific time machine that will bring back information about the earliest stages of Mars’ formation 4.5 billion years ago
InSight – a stationary lander – will also be the first NASA mission since the Apollo moon landings to place a seismometer, a device that measures quakes, on the soil of another planet.

It will help us learn how rocky bodies form, including Earth, its moon, and even planets in other solar systems

InSight or the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport mission, carries a suite of sensitive instruments to gather data

InSight currently is at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California undergoing final preparation before launch

3 districts of Rajasthan to get Yamuna water

Yamuna river water will be supplied to Churu, Sikar and Jhunjhunu districts in Rajasthan from Tajewala headworks in Haryana.
As per an interstate Yamuna water-sharing agreement in 1994, 1917 cusec water was allotted to Rajasthan from Tajewala headworks but there was no consensus on how the water could be brought to the state.
Now water will be supplied through a pipeline and the Centre will provide financial assistance for the same.

GSAT-6A

It is a communication satellite built by ISRO to provide mobile communication services through multibeam coverage.

A geosynchronous orbit is a high Earth orbit that allows satellites to match Earth’s rotation.

A spacecraft is first launched into an elliptical orbit called Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) to attain geosynchronous (and also geostationary) Earth orbits later.

It is equipped with S and C band transponders.

A transponder is a device that receives and transmits radio signals at a prescribed frequency range.

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an Explorer-class planet finder by NASA.

The principal goal of the TESS mission is to detect small planets with bright host stars in the solar neighborhood

The spacecraft will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The spacecraft will be looking for a phenomenon known as a transit, where a planet passes in front of its star, causing a periodic and regular dip in the star’s brightness.

Government invites bids to sell 76 per cent stake in Air India

The government proposes to sell 76% of Air India along with low-fare subsidiary Air India Express and a 50% stake in AISATS,
The government has also decided to retain a 24% stake in this entity after the divestment .